Shattered Revenge
by Ranger indecisive
Summary: Arisaka didn't die in book 10, he lived after Will "killed" him. He's out for revenge and sends Kasta, an assassin to bring Will and Horace so he can kill them. Kasta goes to Araluen but will she mange to best two of Araluen's best warriors? Even if she is legendary with her three swords? please read and review! (not a female ranger story) rated T cose i like blood, guts and gore!
1. Chapter 1- The Client

**Hello this is my new fanfic. Please read and review and tell me what you think. This is based in Nihon-Ja and follows a made up character called Kasta. And NO it is not a femal-ranger fanfic :D **

One… The Client.

The man hadn't even had time to shout for help before my sword entered his chest. It was too easy and I sighed, braking inside. Humans were weak, even I felt the sadness flood my mind and I felt like breaking something into a million pieces. The world breaks everyone and afterward ,many, have to be strong at their weakest points. I didn't feel strong.

I pulled my Norse-styled blade out of the man's chest, hot blood gargling from the man's open mouth still ready to shout. Scream. I slid the blade over the man's head, severing it completely. The head lulled back and tumbled off the bed. Blood dripped down the white blanket making a nasty stain. I pulled the head off the floor and stuffed it in a brown bag around my neck. I was thankful I hadn't eaten yet as the smell of fresh blood entered my nostrils. I pulled up my scarf that covered everything apart from my eyes. I wiped my sword on the corner of my brown cloak and headed for the door.

I slipped into an alcove at the thud of footsteps. Dressed in my dark brown cloak, I pressed against the cold marble of the wall wishing myself to become one with the shadows. Nothing more than dust in the air. The guard walked passed unknowingly, grumbling about the cold but making no move to close the wide shutters.

The storm flashed in the sky, illumining the hallway. I took a long breath and pushed my way off the wall. My feet barely made noise as I moved towards the open shutters. The storms wind made the shutters bang against the wall so I didn't worry about making noise there. However nobody saw me as I climbed out of the hallway, scouted across the window ledge and swung down the walls smooth surface to the drainpipe which I sailed down to the ground floor. Still nobody called an alarm but I imaged someone could be watching. Imaging dangers prepared me for real ones.

I moved silently towards the outer garden wall and scaled to the top. I turned to look for one second at the fourth level of the manor house. It would be a shock for who ever had to find the body lying, still in their night wear, dead and headless. Blood everywhere. I accelerated myself off the wall, twisting to break the fall and landing in a low crouch.

Now I had to get away, before someone might find the body earlier than I expected. But nobody did. I placed my sword in one of the three scabbards on my back and re-draped the cloak to hide the weapons. I pulled down the half scarf and tucked it in my pocket. No use in leaving it around my neck. No point in giving any advantage to hold on to in a fight.

I stood straight and walked down the narrow street like I was just going for a careless walk in the evening and headed for my usual place. Unlike other assassins, I liked to be paid where I wanted or be told my next victim where I wanted, which normally was the tall building on my left. It was bigger than the others and have long wooden boards instead of the thin waxy paper walls that the other buildings were made out of, but the windows were still the same shutters that made it easy to enter unnoticed or escape.

I entered the small doorway, ducking instinctively at the deep change in step and ceiling height. I pulled off my mud cast shoes and tucked them safely on the side rack, changing them for the slippers that the inn supplied. I man at the front desk looked up and shrank back in his chair at the sight of me. My reputation outdid me. I nodded at the man and entered the steaming room. Smoke floated in the thick air giving the large room a misty appearance. I ducked into a stool at the back and pulled the curtain across the doorway.

The man bowed from his seat and nodded in reply. My client was sitting opposite me, cuddling a large glass mug of sickly brown liquid. I dumped the head onto the table without waiting for the man to ask me and pulled the bag away. Blood drawled onto the table staining the papers that man had been reading. I placed a hand on the table, a harmless move apart from the small dagger in my hand, the blade proceeding just enough for my client to see.

He shuffled through his pocket and drew out a bag of coins which he dumped on the wooden table in front of me. I slit my knife through the heavy leather and watch the golden coins pool out of the bag.

'It's all there,' muttered the man pushing the severed head away from him.

'It better be,' my voice was stone cold. I didn't care about the money but I might as well keep up the identity of being a cold-blooded murder which kept the officials away. I placed the bag in my pocket.

'Nice doing business with you,' my client said finally extending his fat arm and bowing again.

'I'm sure,' I replied and pushed myself from the stool without shaking the man's hand.

I moved through the tables and to my normal empty table at the back where I sat down and ordered a bow of shredded pork and a hot mug of tea. My food came fast, carried by a writhing serving girl who didn't even meet my eyes as she carefully placed the bowl on the table and bowed. As she set down the pot of tea a man from the next table along grabbed her arm knocking over the scolding hot water. I cursed as it bunt my arm but sprang into action standing next to the girl. I pushed off my hood and slipped a knife under the man's neck.

'Let the girl go,' I hissed into his ear. The man's deep grey eyes slid to mine and he dropped the serving girls arm. I released the man from the point of my knife and prodded it into the man's hand, just the amount to draw blood. 'If you ever do that again and I see or hear of it,' I stopped breathing angrily in the man's ear and whispered, 'I will kill you. Do you understand?' The man nodded hurriedly and I moved away to the table and the girl. She was shaking but still picking up the sharp pieces of china which would cut her unsteady hands. I gripped them carefully with one and took the sharp material from her hand. 'Stop.'

Her eyes flicked my mine than dropped to the floor. 'Thank you miss.' I dropped her hands and pushed her away. She hurried back to the kitchen bowing at me. Pushed the plate forward and begin shoveling the dry meat into my mouth. I don't think I could stomach anything rich after killing someone, I never could.

The man in front of me sat down without asking or bowing. Another client and this one rude and overly confident. I didn't halt in my eating but kept my attempt at looking board while I accessed the man over shaded eyes.

Tall and broad. A man built like a mountain and looked like he could give a good beating. He held himself up proudly and held a watchful gaze over the other inns occupants. Looking at them like they were lesser beings. I couldn't help but agree.

I took my accession to the amount of weapons the man had. One Katana was bucked at the man's waist and from the thickness of his wrists he had hidden blades up them. Other than that the man seemed normal covered in a thick cloak but from a closer glance I accessed it was expensively made and just underneath I could see the glinting of shining armour. I leaned back in my chair, finished with my food. What was a Senshi doing here? No doubt he thought himself above me, scum off the streets like the rest of the occupants, and a girl. And what could I do that a Senshi couldn't?

The man reached across and placed a note in my hand. I could feel the man's heavy breath on my shoulder as he lent back and I resisted the urge to shiver. I unclasped the seal and read the letter but there was on my sentence and a symbol. It didn't make sense but before I could ask the Senshi anything he stood and left. The letter read.

_The Lord Arisaka commands your presence. Find us. _

It ended with the symbol of a red owl. Impossible. Arisaka was dead, killed by the _ganjin _and his friends. The emperor had disbanded the Shimonseki-clan. And the last bit, "_find us", _wasn't helpful. How was I supposed to find them with this note? I sighed and crumpled the note in to my shirt pocket. I'll sleep on it, I told myself.

**There you have it! Should i continue? Please tell me what you think! **


	2. Chapter 2- The Finding

**Heloha guys, how ya all doing? thanks for reviewing, i'm enjoying wrting this story and i want to know what everyone else thinks. I'm sure it wall get better, promise! ;D **

Chapter 2… The Finding. 1088

It wasn't at all as hard as I'd first presumed. I'd always found ways to find my clients prey but this was different, I was finding my client first and I couldn't shift the feeling that I was being played with. Tested. After two days of lounging in yen dens and the black markets, and interrogating people I found the information I needed to find these people. My client or clients.

The place I had been searching for was the palace of the Shimonseki-clan, which had decayed slowly after the angry Kikori burnt it down. I spent two hours scanning the area for possible hideaways. The palace had a grand structure of five towers. The ground still littered with the grand marble stones the base of the towers.

The palaces outer walls remained standing being the strongest part of the building but the interior courtyard looked like a giant's playground. Little gullies ran throughout the courtyard, no doubt where small waterworks used to run and the garden had desterilized into nothing but dead shrubs and clawing weeds. The palace was deserted.

I entered the third tower, the one facing east, with was in better shape than the others. The wooden door was barred with metal locks and rocks tumbled over the doorway. It all seemed very deliberate. I pushed the rocks away, careful not to make much noise even though I'd done a scan of the surrounding area before swooping in. The palace ruins were a perfect place to ambush me if this was all a trap.

I opened the lock with the small hair pins that kept my hair out of my face while working. After moving the little metal pins around in the dark hole for some seconds it heard a click and the door swung inward.

The room beyond was small. The main interior was taken purely by the winding stair case that shot up to the blue sky which I could see through the half missing roof. The walls were mud caked and tree branches where crawling in through the cracks and windows of the wall. The stair case went down too.

I moved forward and peered into the darkness of the downward stair case. I could see nothing. Slowly I made my way down the winding stairs, guiding my way by keeping my hand on the wall at all times. In the other I slipped out a knife which I concealed in the flaps of my sleeve.

Once solidly on ground I moved forward into the darkness, well aware that anybody could spring on me at any time. Nobody did. I waited for my night-vision to work and moved towards the tunnel passage.

It seemed to be endless. My feet making no noise on the ruff ground, my hands guiding my way. The further I went the smaller the tunnel became. I tried to burry my fear of tight places in the shattered pieces of my mind. Fear was irrationals and unnecessary but it still creped in the shadows of my mind as I felt the walls around me slink closer. And closer.

I held my breath and till I finally came to a large cavernous space. The walls were the same sandstone brick but it had been covered by thin screens of elegant wood and wall hangings were pinned in a variety of explicit colours. The floor hand been re-laid and covered in polished red wood that shone. I pushed myself out of the tunnel and on to the flooring.

I hadn't noticed the man sitting on a throne like chair at the end of the table. Senshi sat around him, even the one come the inn gave me a glance but I couldn't keep my eyes off the man sitting on the large chair. He had cold, dead eyes. I embraced my fear with a wall of ice and pushed it deep into the broken part of my soul. Faking confidence, I marched my way to the table and pulled down my cowl. The man smiled, and lent back.

'Lady Kasta, you're early.' I bowed my head respectfully then slipped into the chair across from him. I pushed my dirty boots on to the table which made the man smile even more.

'Well you didn't name a time in your little note. And your man,' I say glancing at the man from the inn, 'forgot his courtesies.'

The man nodded even though we all knew that the man had been under orders to leave after the note had been received. 'I'm sure he meant no disrespect, Lady.'

I smiled at him. 'Oh I'm _sure_ he didn't, Lord Arisaka.'

* * *

Lord Arisaka smiled down the table. The room, now empty of the other men for Arisaka's clan was silent. I forced myself to return the smile, making myself believe the confidence in the smile. I leaned forward slowly.

'I heard that you were dead.' I stated quietly.

'I'm sure you did, yet _I _would never be outwitted by a _ganjin_. Did you really think me dead?'

I sat back again, resting my head on the hard wood of the chair. I shrugged. 'Maybe.'

He shot out of his seat, suddenly angry. 'You think me stupid _girl_.'

I stayed calm. 'No. Not yet. But how can I know you are how you state you are?'

Arisaka seemed annoyed but his anger disappeared. Still he moved towards me with arrogance in his steps. He pulled down the top of his shirt letting me inspect the large white scar, no doubt where the _ganjin _knife had been thrown.

'How? How did you do it?' I asked keeping the wonder out of my voice.

'Again I'm not stupid. The knife hit the top of my helmet then entered my neck. It didn't go in far and I have the best healers in the world.' He sat down on the table in front of me. 'Of course to keep the idea alive, that I was dead, I had to have the healers… disposed of.' Of course he had no problems speaking of killing in front of me. A cold blooded murder.

'What do you want?' I asked finally sick of the man's speech.

'The two _ganjins. _Get them and take them here alive. I want to kill them.' He smiled again.

'Which two? I heard there was five.' Of course it was common knowledge that there had been five _ganjins _that had helped the emperor.

'The prince and the one that tried to kill me.'

**Dun Dun Dun. see it got better i'm gonna make hell for Horace and Will! won't that be fun =D**


	3. Chapter 3- Lives

**i'm sorry this is quite short but i just wanted to get inside my characters head and get the journey over and done with. **

**Thank you for the reviews.**

**Scorch: thank you for the correction in the Ganjin not Ganijin thing i'll try and sort that out. I'm sorry if i spelt things wrong i'm not very good at spelling but i did go through it with Word Document's spell and grammar check before i posted so if there was anything wrong could you inform me which words i spell wrong as well. Thanks! Also i sorry about Arisaka being OOC. i wasn't really bothered about his character in this story yet because it's more about Kasta and i was just trying to fit him into the story how i wanted. i'll try and make him better next time hes in a chapter. **

**StarHunter: i'm glad you found it intriguing and i will carry on because i'm really enjoying writing this :D i don't really know how to get Beta but i'll get some one else to read it through like this chapter i got my sister to read it... so if there are any spellings or grammar problems blame her not me! :P**

**Guest: thank you and i will!**

**Please read and review! i'm sorry again about any spelling and grammar problems and as i told StarHunter it's not my fault as i got someone else to read it through for me :D **

**this is just like a skip chapter so i can get on to the bit in Araluen!**

Chapter 3… Lives. 1012

Fish! Always fish! If there's one thing that will make me sick its fish. Not blood. Or guts. Or decapitated heads. No not in my line of work. But fish; with their almost transparent scales and their glassy grey eyes, they seemed to stare at me continually even when dead. That and the smell.

The ship- the Crane- was a small trading vessel that carried fish. It was the only ship in port heading for Araluen. It was roughly painted red and white on the outside and the interior looked worse than the outside. The ship-master in port had directed me to the ship early in the morning and after negating a fair price for the ship journey I moved my things into the small broom cupboard below deck so that I didn't have to share room with the sailors. Not that I was taking much.

The ship sailed out of port in early evening as to not miss the heavy wind. The boat heaved on the waves and if I didn't know better I would have thought the boat would snap in two. Later that night the rain came in torrents and then the storm that almost stole our mast.

Even though the ship stank of fish it was still warm and in the evenings the sailors would collect in the main gully. They would play music, drink strong beer and gamble. The atmosphere was lively and I found myself relaxing into the routine of things. It must have been on the second night when the man came up to me. He was tall and heavy muscled with a brown stubble. An ores-man. He came towards the bench I was sitting and asked me to dace.

'I'm not very good,' I replied sinking back into the wooden wall. The man smiled and dragged me by my hand to the middle of the gully. He called over to the musicians and the beat picked up. The men on the boat started clapping. The man bowed and I grinned and returned the bow. Then we danced.

It was a lot like jumping and twisting. Turning. Fitting our bodies together. I felt the freedom flood my veins and I could almost imagine sprouting wings and flying away. Or maybe having a normal life. Being a normal girl who saw a man and fell in love. But I could never do that. I relaxed into the music feeling the notes sing in my head.

I found myself laughing and grinning. Feeling complete happiness of once. And then I found myself singing to the tune, which I recognized to be a Hibernian song. The words fell from my mouth as I turned and danced with the man. To his credit he was a better dancer than myself. I could see the way he flowed in the music. He smiled at me and I returned the smile.

That night I dreamed about flying through the sky and singing while I flew.

* * *

I swung and ducked. I swerved and dived. Twisting my body against imaginary blows from the four dummies that I'd set up in the gully while the men worked. I closed my mind to everything but myself and the dummy. Seeing the dummies arms move and matching my body to miss the blows.

I turned away from the first dummy and ducked, seeing a fake knife sail over my head. I returned the throw with three of my own at the nearest dummy. Sending on in the head and two in the heart. I twisted again and propelled myself forward, knocking myself over the next dummy with my body mass. I had to put all my back body strength behind the knock because I'd set the dummy to match the average weight of a man which was a lot more than me.

I rolled off the dummies body and towards the next one. I jumped up tearing my two swords out of their leather sheaths on my back, leaving the third one still in its scabbard. I hardly ever used that sword.

I held my Jain blade in my left hand. It was a double edged straight blade with a sharply angled tip. It was almost a meter in length and contained no decoration apart from the little red stone at the end of the pommel. In my right, I held my long sword. It was a flat blade and also looked boring but as I twisted and turned the weapon in my hand I felt it become one with my arm.

I had started using the two different blades around seven years ago. I put the two techniques together making my fighting confusing distracting to an enemy and made my skill higher. I aimed and spun at the last dummy. The wood scared as I cut it repeatedly. In my head I saw the blood pour out of the cuts that I'd created.

The four dummies were defected and it had taken my little time. I sunk to my knees and embraced my head in my arms. All I could do is destruct things and I made me both the victim and the destroyer. I felt like screaming and shouting. Like braking something into a million pieces.

I feel my world chasing around me in a sea of emotions. Yet the most dominant one- the one I try to suppress- conquers all. Anger is a killing thing. It takes something away from me every time I feel it, leaving less than I had before.

That night I named every person I'd killed. I'd never forget their names. Which blow stole their lives. Who they were. Who would feel sorrow from their passing? I would never forget the people I'd destroyed.

I rapped their names in a cold wall of ice and sent them away to the back of my mind. I had a job to do and it wouldn't be halted by my foolish conscience. Or the kind bits that could find it easy to relax in music and laugh and smile.

**Please review :P**


	4. Chapter 4- The Next

**Hello guys than you again for the reviews and the 2 followers it makes me really (really, really REALLY LIKE JUMPING OFF THE SOFA) when i get like one review and stuff... yer anyway onwards to the story!**

Chapter 4… The Next. 1016

I had that thing that happens before I sleep. Every mistake I've ever made, every life I've very taken, every word I which unsaid comes rushing back to me and all I can do is push it away into oblivion and pretend it never happened.

The dock town is small and shabby. With little more than necessary stores and a tavern by the dock. Little farming cottages are scattered in the distance, light flickering like floating specks of dust the only sign of their existence. I walk through the heavy rain and book a room in the stuffy tavern.

The room is only a little bigger than the room on the ship, yet it is respectable. Holding one single bed, a small screen and dresser. The window is covered by thin wooden shutters. I open them and let the rain pour into the room and splatter on my face while I try to sleep. Listening to the music drift through the rustic floorboards I must fall asleep at some point, but I'm too far away to notice the change in my minds state.

The morning is a nice change to last night. The windows must have banged close during the night but I peel them open again and look out to the street below. The town is bigger than I'd first assed, with a winding street and the houses taller and painted.

I pull my things together and head for what seems to be a smithy. As I near the shop it becomes clear I was right as the smell of newly forged iron invades the fresh air. Steam floats carelessly from the shop-front and the small pained windows are misted with clogged air and dirt. I enter through the side gate.

The small courtyard beyond is nothing special considering I purchase my weaponry from the best forages in the whole of Nihon-Ja. However I have to emit the workmen-ship is excellent. I step forward, unable to stop myself, and inspect one of the breastplates. It's been welded from thick iron and tin. Decollate inlays of silver run in little gullies of the front plate. My hand is already stretching out to touch the plate when the smith waddles through the back door waving his arms in my face.

'Get out! Out, I say! Don't want you and your little thieving hands in here girl! Out!' The man's face is flushed red and his pupils seem slightly dilated but he moves fast like any swords man should. I hold my hands open in front of me.

'I'm looking to buy a horse,' the smith stands straighter and inspects me.

'And how, pray tell, are you going to pay?' I smile and pull out my gangling bag of coins. I slip some out onto my palm and shove them in the smiths face. He picks one up and bites down on it hard. I cringe at the sound of grinding teeth but the smith nods and gestures for me to follow him.

'Sorry, miss. Didn't mean to seem rude and all,' he mutters while leading me further into the shop and round to the stables.

The mounts kick and butt as the smith pulls back the doors and allows us to enter. From a first glance none of them are very well trained or fit to ride at the heavy pacing I want to be traveling at. There all working horses to be honest. I move closer to inspect one. Slipping into the small pen I inspect the animal's legs. They're thin and bony and wouldn't last the journey.

The next few seem mentally unstable and rear when I step forward however they seem stronger. The last horse is quiet. He looks at me through a thick bundle of grey hair with large questioning eyes. The horse's legs are strong and it seems well trained. I turn to the smith.

'How much?' He inspects the horse himself and seems to come to a decision.

'Two of those coins you showed me,' I pay him and give him one copper for a map and supplies. The less shops I go to the less news of a foreigner will spread. Not that I look that different with unremarkable dark coloured hair, slightly tanned skin and dark brown, almost black eyes. I'm only half Nihon-Jan.

* * *

The West wall was where I chose my spying point. The north side was too far away from the edge of the forest and I didn't want to think about getting caught. The east was the side of the River Semath, which would slow me down. The south was the front where the city lay and the most heavily guarded.

The west wall was more fun anyway. It was confined into three sections. There were two corner parts where it joined to the four main towers that stood at each end of the castle or the middle part sectioned apart by the two smaller towers. The space between the corner towers was one-hundred meters and the middle was two hundred. There were to guards on each part of the wall and they were on post for four hours each. I looked at the patterns and the entries that I could use and also any possible plans for escape. But if escape was needed I would probably let my natural reactions take over. They'd kept me alive for the whole of my life so far.

In the end I decided I would use the second tower to my left. I watched the guards that were stationed at the walls. They mirrored each other without communicating. Doing a sweep of the land every ten minutes then looking inward. Neither man became drugged with cold or sleeplessness. It seemed as though they were too good for their jobs.

I shuffled back from my spying point and towards the clearing where I had tied the horse to a tree. The mount looked up at me silently as I approached. I rubbed the horse's grey flecked fur muttering in it ear.

'If only you could talk. You'd probably know the best way to breach a castle, wouldn't you?' I smiled as the horse stared at me blankly. 'Maybe not. You're not the brightest horse are you?'

**I should name the horse. what should i call it? give me some ideas please! :D**


	5. Chapter 5- Innocence

**Hello guys how 'ya doing? anyway i'd like to thank everyone that has reviewed and red this story! i love you all! :P 7**

**Review:**

**maggiestarjump: thank you so much for the names, your way better at Japanese than me and when i look it up it's all symbols and stuff! so thanks! it's gonna be some time before she goes to the horse so i'll have time to decide by then.. but as the pen name says, i'm very indecisive :D**

Chapter 5… Innocence. 1118

Scaling walls is easy. I've always been able to climb even the hardest walls. And the fear of heights doesn't get to me, the height it makes me feel free. The walls of Castle Araluen are another matter. The smooth hard-stone make my feet slip and skid on the surface and by the time I was half way up I wished I'd used a rope. My hands felt sweaty at the palms and my booted feet didn't like being suspended at the risky parts.

It was better when I finally reached high enough to cling onto the stone gargoyles. They were funny looming in the dark and as I neared there twisted faces I wondered what kind of person would create such horrific ornaments. However they supported my climb as I wedged my feet in mouths with long grey tongues drooling from them, and grappled at the curved tails that swiped like frozen drain pipes. Even if it felt like I was putting my life in the hands of horrific beasts that could snap away from the wall at any moment and we could bought fall to our deaths. Or maybe the stone figureheads would clamp down on my hand, their sharp fangs digging deep into my skin as they realised and imposter was breaching the castle. Or course none of them happened.

I'd slipped my way through the shadows towards the second tower on my left, earlier that night. I'd left the horse back, tethered to a tree near my position, and many of my weapons which would slow down my climbing. I'd only left my three swords; the long sword, katana and the Jain on my back and an arrangement of knifes and daggers hidden in the most obscure places around my person so that if capture be-found me, they would at least leave one weapon unfound. Not that I need any weapons to escape.

The two guards seemed obvious to myself as I reached the last part of my climb upwards. Now I either when left or right around the tower. I chose right. Shifting sideways I started moving slowly above the head of the guard, but the man didn't hear me.

Halfway around the tower now. I dropped a glance at the guard as the man shifted to make one of his every-ten-minutes search. I didn't dare move. Clinging onto the wall with dear life I waited the full five minutes as he walked up and down the fifty meter stretch then back again. Then the same on the other side, looking inward at the courtyard. Finally he came back to his standing position below me. Inaudibly I sighed, relaxing against the wall and thanking the guards for not looking up. Then I continued moving again.

Finally on the other side of the tower, my back to the courtyard, I looked down. Right below me- ten meters or so- was the stable roof. I skimmed my way down and dropped lightly onto the wooden slats, my soft-toed boots moving soundlessly. The roof was slanted so I moved in a crouched walk to the side of the additional building and jumped on to the window ledge then pushed myself to the floor.

I looked again at the courtyard. There was many ways to get inside the palace, from then I had to find the royal apartments. The prince would either be in his rooms, sleeping, or in his office. I entered through the closest side gate and pushed myself back into alcove.

I could either walk around in the direction I presumed was the way to the royal apartments or I could fain a person. Making a swift decision I hulled off my cloak and my swords and balled them up inside. I then neatly folded the cloak to look like sheets. I pulled my trouser legs out of my boots. They were specially made to be big and baggy so that, when pulled out, they looked like a skirt instead of trousers. I pulled my hair out of my face and pinned it in a neat bun at the bottom of my neck then stepped out of the alcove. People wouldn't be apprehensive against a serving girl.

I neared the end of the corridor and realised that I shouldn't be out in the open. There would be servant's corridors that I would be meant to be walking down. I was about to turn around and walk back the way I came when a voice called out.

'Halt there.' I turned to face the voice, trying to keep my face calm and innocent. It was a guard. The man was heavily armoured but didn't seem stiff in the metal suit.

'I'm sorry sir,' I tried to keep my voice innocent too. 'I got lost, you see. Because I'm new her sir.' I kept mumbling apologies and fanning gullibility. The guard held up a hand and I stammered in my speech.

'Were are you headed?' the man asked.

'The Royal apartments,' I said quietly, testing to see if he believed me. 'See. And I don't want to be late.' I think I could see him falling for it. Hell, I believed myself.

The guard nodded and told me directions to the apartments. I thanked him and hurried off, grateful that he'd believed me. I encountered little else but I still kept my head down and my look of simplicity and till I reached the door to the apartments. The guards barely gave me a glace before opening the door and letting me pass. I entered the stair case and just before the door shut I dropped a drafting bomb which would make them fall asleep for some time if I chose to come out through the door.

The stair case wound up and up but I kept my eyes down and till I entered the main room. It was a plush living space with polished floorboards that were neatly carpeted with bright colours. A blazing fire sung in the corner surrounded by large sofas, overflowing with pillows. The walls were bored and pained with red-wood and wall hangings. Velvet blinds drifted in the wind that sailed through the open windows.

I took a hesitant step forward unsure which door I should enter through. Then I heard footsteps in the stair case and rushed towards the nearest door. It opened to be a small study furnished quite like the pervious room, with chairs and sofas and a smaller, less grand, fire place and mantel.

I moved further into the door and heard the footsteps move closer towards the door. As the door opened I dived into a large cupboard and held my breath.

**Please review! i'm half way through writing the next chapter so it should be up soon... but only if you review! MAHAHAHA!**


	6. Chapter 6- Up, Down and Out

**Hello guys, thank you for the reviews it means a lot to me! **

**thank you guest i will try and replenish that chapter when i can and i'm glad your enjoying it! **

Chapter 6… Up, Down and Out. 1060

I didn't dare breath. Through the wooden door I could hear ruff murmurs as the people spoke to each other and footsteps as they moved around the room. I felt blind not seeing.

Shuffling backwards into the cupboard and hiding myself in the shadows I felt air above my head. The wind ruffled my messy bun of hair and hurt my eyes as I peered up into the gloom. Above me was an air-shaft or tunnel. It ran so deep into the castle walls I couldn't see the end of it. I needed to get out of here and this seemed my best bet of the moment.

Twisting my body sideways I managed to jump forward and cling onto the wall. The stone was smooth and finding grip was hard I could already feel my body falling back towards the floor. I shifted again to that I had a foot or hand in each corner then moved slowly upwards, like a spider.

Then my dagger decided to fall. Without having hands to cling onto all my weapons it must have slipped out from my pocket. Even though I was only part way up, and could still see the floor of the cupboard, it made a loud crash! I winced and stopped moving.

Footsteps drew near then someone entered the cupboard. Even in the gloom I could see the person's body was far too large to be in such a space. The body moved awkwardly in the tight space then when directly under me looked up. I could see the blazing blue eyes peer at me and I could have sworn that the person saw me.

'Horace?' asked a voice outside the cupboard. 'What was it?'

The prince shifted again and I took time to inspect the man's face. At least I now knew what the first person I was looking for looked like.

'Nothing. Must be nothing.' Horace turned and closed the cupboard door behind him. I carried on moving up, careful not to make any sudden movements and drop anything again.

Finally I reached the top of the shaft. On one side the shaft changed into a vent, through which I could see the city laid before me like the pages of a book, and on the other the shaft continued going over the room I'd been in before I hid in the cupboard. I went that way.

The vent shaft was small and the tightness of the walls around me was horrible but I swallowed it down and pushed on. Laying on my front and pushing along with my hands, it was slow work. I was fearful to push with my feet as they would create noise as the souls rubbed against the smooth stone and the people below would hear.

The vent shaft slowly opened out to become bigger and I could see the source less than a second later. On the bottom wall of the vent was a small grate wedged into the surface. I shuffled forward and bundled so I could sit up without hitting my skull. I peered into the grate, well aware that if anyone looked up they would be able to see my large eyes, but people seldom look up.

There was two people below in the room. One was Horace and the other was a woman dressed in warm silks and furs, with blond hair that was bundled neatly at the nape of her neck. The princess most likely.

I wedged myself closer to the grate and waited for conversation to pick up in volume. When it did I moved with careful hands to remove the grate. The iron metalwork refused to shift out of the way so I wedged my long sword in the gap around the edge of the grate then pushed.

If you tried to achieve the same thing that I did- the grate came up and I managed to lift the iron grate and sword out of the man-sided whole- with a normal blade it would have snapped. However my arrangements of weapons had been created in the iron forges of Nihon-Ja. Melded by the best-blacksmiths in the eastern-hemisphere and so they wouldn't easily break.

I put the metal grate by my side and waited for the woman to leave the room. When she did I pushed myself through the whole- feet first- and landed onto of the man's desk. It was lucky the man was without weapon at that time as I pulled both swords and advanced on Horace.

I came spinning and twisting my swords blurring in movement, but the prince moved and twisted out of the way of my swords without tiring. He moved gracefully between my weapons but with a weapon of his own he could not advance. I could see the corners of his eyes blurting to the sides as he searched for a weapon but I pushed him back away from anything he could grasp.

The prince shouted out. 'Cassandra!' but the woman didn't return, instead the door was flung open and five guards filed in. I stepped backwards and slipped a knife under Horace's neck. This is not what I'd planned

'Don't move any closer or I'll kill him.' the guards seemed hesitant to move forward and looked to the prince for direction. I looked around franticly for anyway of escape.

'Hold back,' he commanded the guards and twisted his head so he could see my face. 'Let me go and you can just walk away.'

The man was foolish to try to reason with me. With any assassin. 'Never.' I pushed the knife deeper into his neck and felt the man's blood drip onto my hand.

The guards moved forward and I shuffled backwards. 'Stop! Don't move closer!' but the guards moved forward anyway and I kept moving backwards, pulling the prince with me. Surprisingly the man didn't struggle but I was too frantic to notice.

I took a breath to calm my nerves. I'd been in sticky places before and I'd never not finished a job. I looked behind me than and saw the window. It was my best bet. I lurched backwards and pushed both myself and Horace out the window. The glass shattered and I let realised my grip around Horace's neck.

Raising both arms around my head. Still gripping both my swords I waited for the impact of the moat.

**Dun dun dun! whats gonna happen next! i'm sorry if you though this was a bit lame it's cose i wasn't really sure how to do this chapter and it sounded better in my head anyway please review!**


	7. Chapter 7- Song of Blood

**Hello, thank you for the last set of reviews( guest: thank you, i'm glad you like her! She might use the third sword later in the story so you'll just have to keep reading) um... sorry this isn't very long but i went on the ff page tonight and saw that i was ABOUT TO BE PUSHED ON TO PAGE 2! AND I WILL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN! **

**I'd like to give thanks to maggiestarjump who supplied me with the horse's name: (i chose Akiko in the end, but thanks so much for the other ideas!)**

**anyway... please review!**

Chapter 7… Song of Blood. 1362

It didn't come. Instead I landed on the hard stone of a balcony. Rolling over in pain and shaking my head to halt the ringing in my ears I staggered to my feet. My vision dipped and lurched as I leant against the balcony wall and climbed onto the other side of the railing.

Looking down I searched for Horace. A body-like shape was floating face down in the moat a trail of blood laying in his wake. Pushing back panic, I slipped underneath the balcony holding on with just my hands. My muscles burned as I hung without a foot rest. My boots scrabbled against the cold stone trying to find a grip.

When they did, I scaled the wall lightly and moved to the edge of the moat. Horace's shape was nearing the other side of the moat now. I glanced back hurriedly, knowing that a squadron of knights could come out any minute, then stepped into the moat.

I waded to the middle then had to start to swim as the water became too deep for me to walk. I tried to keep my head above the murky water so that I could see the body of Horace. I dragged myself the last leg and pushed his body onto the muddy bank. I climbed out afterwards and dragged the rest of his body out of the water.

There was no way I would be able to carry him. Horace had a large muscled shape and he was a lot taller than me. I leant over his body and slapped him in the face. His eyes opened drudgingly and I pulled him up. He staggered after me and I lead him to the wood where I whistled and waited for my horse to come.

The horse trotted up and I punched Horace in the temple, knocking him senseless, then hoisted him onto the saddle and climbed on afterwards. I slapped the rains and we sprinted on. Me glancing over my shoulder every once in a while.

My horse lurched and bucked as he rode full pelt through the trees. The horse's hooves moved in a blur of movement and its body seemed to hunch and realise as we gained speed in the gallop. I leant forward in the saddle covering Horace's body and forcing my body to become streamline with the horses curved back, just in case the knight's following me had archers. The horse hunched again and I peered forward to see why. A large rock loomed in the distance. I ready my foot to tap him left but he soared over the rock and recovered in his stable gallop.

I sent a look behind me again and listened intently. I could hear people behind me but not sure how many. I pulled gently on the horse's rains, slowing him to a canter, than to a trot and finally to a slow walking pace. Through my horse's quite steps I could hear five other horses.

Every horse has a different gait and on the uneven ground they were prominent in the silent wood. Looking around to make sure there were not people surrounding or watching me I slipped from the saddle and stood on the hard leather. I searched for a good tree and jumped from the saddle and climbed onto it. The horse kept on going for a moment then turned back and looked up at me. I made an annoyed movement with my hands.

'Go!' I hissed at the animal. 'Move you idiotic lump of brawn.' The animal shook is mane at me than continued on galloping away. I would find the stupid animal later. When the animal was little more than a blur in the distance I turned back to the five knights following me.

The first one was around ten meters away and I readied myself to jump from the branch. Pushing with my feet I sung onto the saddle. The horse stumbled under the new weight and the rider sifted around to face me as I bang my sword around in a swift movement. Blood leaked from a large cut on the man's neck as he fell from the horse's saddle. I jumped from the saddle and looked away as the body of the dead knight was dragged by the still galloping horse.

The next knight had witnessed the attack of his fellow solider and was rising his sword to lop off my head as he came forward. _Not today_, I thought and ducked under the horse's body. The horse reared back in fright and the man tumbled backwards out of the saddle. I twisted out of the way of the horses kicking legs and in a spur of movement brag down my sword in the man's chest.

The next two knights jumped from there horse's and advanced on foot. Running in an even gait next to each other. I turned around to face them, spinning my swords experimentally. When they were close enough I dived between them, delighting in the feral song of blood and bones. I felt like a whirlwind of steel, iron and blood. Cutting down the two men as though they were stalks of wheat in a field.

The men collapsed and I walked away from their bodies, covered in dark blood. I wiped the red from my blades and slid them back into their places. Then I heard the noise.

The last knight, I had forgotten him in my dance of death that had awoken the lethal predator inside. I carried on, acting as if I didn't know the man was there. I waited and till he was closer. I waited for the sound of a sword being drawn then turned.

The man's mouth was open in plead, but my dagger was already spinning towards his open mouth. The man tumbled backwards, blood dripping from his open lips. I turned and walked away without ever looking back.

* * *

Finding the horse was not very hard. The animal had left heavy footprints so obvious that a blind man could see them. I trailed the animal for twenty minutes before I found the animal drinking from a small lake. The prince laying on the ground still out.

I walked over to the horse and dragged it away from the water by the rains. I looked into its eyes and said frowned. 'You really are stupid aren't you?' I sighed and dropped the rains. 'I know what I'm going to call you_, baka_. That means idiot you beast!' I sighed, rubbed the animals head, clinging to his mane like a child. 'Akiko. Because that means memory and you will always be in my memory.' Akiko stared at me blankly and I couldn't help laughing and adding: 'Akiko, because you will always be in my memory as the most stupid horse I've ever met!'

I turned away from the horse and scanned the area. It seem safe and night was drawing in so I moved towards the prince and, with a coil of rope I'd taken from my saddle bag, tied him to a tree. My father had always said I had the best ways of tying knots because nobody, but me, could undo them.

I inspected the limp body then and searched his person for any weapons. I then applied a salve from the wound on his neck, there was no point in letting it get infected and him dying from it before I got him back to Arisaka. There was blood on his face and I washed it away to see the wound there. It was smashed slightly and he must have hit it on something in the moat.

I was about to move away when he caught my wrist with both of his that were tied together. His grip was strong and I felt sure he was braking something but I refused to show any pain on my face. He pulled me forward so far that I could feel his breath on my face.

He smiled. 'Your young, aren't you, to be abducting people.' He realised my wrist and I moved away.

I didn't reply but moved towards Baka and fed him an apple. I brushed a hand over his grey mussel feeling the soft fur against my skin brought me comfort and till I noticed the blood caked into the groves on my skin.

I pushed down the sickening feeling and washed them with water from the lake.

**next chapter should be up soon cose i break up for half-term holidays on Friday! yay! **

**please review**


	8. Chapter 8- Drowning in Screams

**Hello guys i'm sorry of the wait, i was preoccupied with school work and stuff like that, anyway thank you for the reviews, i think i go round to pm-ing all of you guys and of the guests:**

**Guest (chapter 5): hello, i'm glad you LOVE THIS FANFIC! please read on and review even more chapters 'cose then i will love you even more!1**

**Guest (chapter 7): Haha i glad you love this too, i'll try to post more chapters but i have a lot of work to do 'cose my exams are coming up in may! *"fun," she said in a deadpanned voice*! i hope it's interesting cose i tried to keep it different than any other FanFics for RA!**

**KatnipHerondale: SORRY BUT I'M JUST LOVING THE NAME! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU READ HUNGER GAMES AND INFERNAL DEVICES AS WELL!*fangirl squeal* um... the chapter names just come to me after i've writen the chapter so, like i write what i'm gonna write then i put like relevant stuff in the name so like the first chapter was about Kasta's client hence "the client" and the second she's finding the underground place and this one... well your just have to read! I'M JUST A VERY SINACAL PERSON**

**I'm sorry cose this chapter is like a filler, but i just wanted to get some of her background into the story, we will find out more of her later and i'm also going to bring in a new character later in the story( a lot later) please R & R!**

**Otousann=**_ dad_

Chapter 8… Drowning in Screams. 2035

When I was sure Horace was asleep I stripped my under breaches off to wash the remaining dirt from my body. The night was cold and as I waded into the shallow lake I shivered. I walked into the coldness and till it lapped at my neck and sent chills running up and down my spine. The water was as cold, if not colder, than the air.

I lake reflected black from the starless sky. Little ripples floated on the clear surface as I moved carefully in the darkness.

Once I was out distance from the shore I started scrubbing the dried blood from my pale skin. They peeled away in little fakes of red drifting like rose petals on the black water. I took a deep breath and dived under the water.

_The water was blue. It had always been blue, even in storms, like the one shifting lightly on the sky-line. As I peered over the edge of the small boat I could see the small fish at the bottom of the lake. Their skins were bright and colorful like the little weeds on the sand and their eyes protruded and bulged over the small rims, seeing everything and nothing at the same time._

_I turned towards otousann, ', can I go swimming?' he turned to looked at the incoming storm raging in the sky. Lighting flashed and thunder roared, the God's seemed quite angry with each other toward and I under stood my otousann's worry but the storm was far away and I wouldn't get hurt. 'Please.'_

_Finally he nodded and helped me climb into the water, over the side of the little fishing boat. But he didn't let go of my thin waist. 'Don't go too far out, Kat. Stay where you can see the boat and shore.' He pointed to the small beach like shore in the distance. A little collection of houses were anchored around twenty meters away from the water edge. Hazy smoke curled from the wooden roofs but it disbursed as little drops of rain splattered from the sky. I nodded and my otousann let go of me, handing me to the water. _

_My otousann had always said I was like an Amur Catfish that's why he called me Kat. He said I became alive in the water and I did. It was bewildering to be in the water, even if it was cold. But my mama said "a pitch of cold water in the morning never did anyone any harm" and my otousann would add, "Particularly to a catfish" which would make them both laugh and me giggle. _

_I took a long breath and dived under the water. Keeping my eyes open in the water hurt but not as much as it did in the open see for there was not as much salt. It was worth keeping your eyes open anyway for I could see the fish and the weeds which were always interesting to watch. Also so you could see what was down, or up, or to right and left. _

_I pushed myself through the water easily. My hands kept propelling me forward in clean strokes and my feet kicking effortlessly with precision. I felt free. _

_Smiling, I swim back to the surface. The water opened around me and I grin up at the sky but rain patters my face in splotches and it tasted like salt. I looked towards the sky-line and realised with clear panic that I'd come to far towards the storm. Light flashed before my eyes._

_I don't want to be stuck in the storm. I'd heard stories of what it is like and how nobody ever ends to tell their own tale. I'd heard about drowning and I don't want to be so helpless. _

_I scream at the top of my lungs. 'Papa!' I hadn't called my otousann papa since I was three, yet I feel so young and tiny against the storm that was raging towards me, creeping like a hidden monster, ready to free itself from the darkness. _

_'Papa! Papa!' my mouth burned, then I'm under again, swallowed by a humongous wave. I clawed to the surface with my frozen arms. Air felt so hard to swallow. 'Papa!' _

_A voice replies a moment later. 'Kat! Kat! Oh my child, where are you?' I swam vigorously against the on-coming waves yet they were to powerful. I could almost sense my brain closing down from the cold harsh weather. _

_'Here papa! I'm here!' I wave me arms high in the arm but another wave came crashing down and I sink under the water. _

_The fish seemed unharmed from the weather as they are calm and till I squirmed and screamed for air. For papa and mama but nobody could hear me. Nobody could see me struggle and nobody came to help. But I didn't give up. Not yet, I tell myself. Air. I needed air. I clutched at anything to get out of the void of darkness. I didn't want to die. I was afraid of death._

I'm screaming underwater. I've done that before without knowing I'm doing it. It just happens. I drag myself from the water. Content at my clean state and rap myself in a blanket. No fire, yet I wish for one but I will not risk people seeing it. Instead I dry myself off and dress in warm clothes, the martial soft and warm against my cold skin, then lay down by a tree. Resting and almost asleep. I know that even the slightest noise would wake me and I'm content to fall asleep in that knowledge.

_Waking was a bad idea. I knew and as far as I could sense, my lungs did not appreciate it as well. They felt like they were full of water and for a sickening moment I was curtain I was drowning inside out. I lurched to my front as my stomach lolled and my breakfast reappeared on the ground beside my drenched body. _

_The food was mixed with water making it seem like white mush. Water kept pouring out of my frozen mouth as I floundered on my front body, feeling too weak to raise my arms. It splattered into my mattered hair and I was repelled with the water started to come out tainted with blood. _

_Hulling myself up I wipe the smear of blood and liquid with my wet sleeve and look around. The storm is still raging in the background, fully past our town. I can hear the harsh crackling of thunder like pounding drums in my head. _

_Woefully I get to my feet and as I move off the small stretch of land I'd washed up one. I'm reminded of a staging drunk, I'd seen enough of them to know what they act like. My world shifted, turned and blurred as I moved forward and walked towards the town. I slipped on mud and staggered on uneven ground and I felt like I was still under water, yet this time I could swim. _

_Finally I reached the edge of the wood and stepped out to the small well in the square. It's tiny and wooden. Made from the careful workman's ship of the people here. The well is covered in a small slated roof to keep spoiled rain from entering the clean spring under the ground. A rope and bale are attached to the small roof, with a clever pulley that sends the bale down and hauls it up. It's also on fire. _

_The yellow flames matched the rest of the buildings, as fire danced out of the shattered windows and open doors. Screams clawed at the foundations of silence that normally embraced our community. I staggered forward, confused at the blaze of fire, and follow the piercing strangled voices. _

_The town is set up with the small well square at the back of the town. The houses are surrounding the small water source. In front of them is another square with attaches itself to the small docking stretch of platform on the sandy bank. _

_Half of the screams were of people coming from inside the houses. I saw hands and feet at the windows. Flashes of black hair and pale pallor as people sprinted around their rooms. Glass shattered as people jumped from windows or as the fire added to much presser behind the weak material. _

_I ran to my own house now. Shouting in my thin voice, 'Papa! Mama!' over and over again. But no echoing voice replied. My house was on the edge of the town, by the trees that grow outside the windows. It's was a one story house and made from single, long stretches of wood that were bored along the sides with a few, every one meter, going parallel to each other, facing the sky. The door was open and I ran towards it only to be pushed back by cold metal. _

_Papa, I think! Papa's come to get me!_

_I grabbed at the person and clung onto their thick body. I cried into papa's body in a flood of tears whispering, 'Papa. Oh papa, where's mama?' but no answer returned. I peered up in confusion only to find a man looking down at myself. Not papa. _

_The person peeled me away from their body and flung me backwards, outside and I hit something hard. A sharp pain flared in my mind as the man walked forward, shouting over his shoulder. 'I've found another one.' Confused I sit up and stare, bewildered at the man. _

_'Where's papa? And mama?' the man dragged me to my feet by my short hair but I was too frantic to register the pain. I was crying, tears gushing down my pale cheeks. 'Where's my mama and papa!' I was screaming now. _

_'You'll see,' replied the man loudly, then herded me towards the front square. People from my town are scattered around the space, being held roughly by men like the one holding me. I could not recall the name, but I remembered papa telling me they were warriors. Higher than us and we had to please them when they came as they often did. _

_I looked around for mama or papa, then remembered: papa was in the boat! I averted my gaze to the lake only to see the little vessel on fire. A figure loomed in the flames, shouting and screaming. I cried even harder and looked for mama. _

_She stood tall and proud, unlike the rest of the town. Her black hair blew like wispy flakes of smoke across her face and her clothes were burnt and blackened. Her blue eyes blazed with such intense hatred that it was so shocking that I hesitated before untangling myself from the man's grip and running towards her. She pulled me into her chest, rapping a thin arm around my frail shoulders and whispered words to me. Beautiful words that I could not hear in my frozen panic. _

_Then blood spurted onto my chest. I looked down expecting to find pain and a sword tip digging through my skin but there wasn't anything there. I looked up, wiping the blood out of my eyes, and stare at my mama. Her eyes were constricted with pained and she started to fall forward._

_We both fell to the ground. Her lifeless body stared up at me, her hand still looking as if to stroke my cheek. Her mouth open in gentle words but they dyed the moment the man's sword left her body. If she said anything else I didn't know because as I was screaming so hard my lungs burned again. _

I was curled in a ball on the ground, rocking back and forth. I told myself to stop being silly, get a grip.

_You will not be afraid, _that's what my mama had been telling me. _I will not be afraid, I swear mama. I swear on the all-mother, I will not be afraid. _

I wiped my face with my sleeve only to look up to find Horace staring at me, inquisitively. I stood forcefully and gathered my blanket into a ball and pushed it inside the saddle bag. I fed Akiko an apple a looked, finally, back to the prince.

'Come on then Prince. We've got some riding to be doing.'

**i lied last time saying i'll update soon, so i won't do it this time because i don't know when i'll be updating but maybe... your reviews will speed things along... maybe :D DEHEE **


	9. Chapter 9- Singing of Remembrance

**Hello guys, i sorry this took so long but it was my first week back at school so i was bizzy doing homework that i should have done in the holiday but didn't #yolo**

**Anyway, thank you for my reviewers:**

**Guest: Haha i'm glad, sorry for the wait.**

**KatnipHerondale: omg i love them too! were're like twins! man for tessa i'm gonna have to say Will but i liked jem as well and i was glad that tessa and jem got together in the end... that was after i got over will's death! #spoiler **

Chapter 9… Singing of Remembrance. 1596

The rain started pelting- like shards of glass: distorted- in mind afternoon. It was it was horribly cold as well, so that whenever a spot of rain winded its way under my cowl and splattered over my face, it felt like a thousand burgs of ice were being dropped as a cruel trick. I shivered in my brown clock but even that was wet from the rain and my trousers were drowned with mud that had passed my high boots which were now swimming in mire and swelled as I promenaded through the sunken land and murky torrent.

The prince seemed in similar spirits, probably worse since I had filched him from his castle at night and he'd most likely had little sleep, but to be fair to myself, nether had I. He was hunched forward in the saddle, his hands were blue from the cold and they were tied with intricate notes in front of his body. His face was twisted in cold scorn and it almost made me laugh because his face was so comical, it looked as if he had a twitch in his brow and was trying to stop it from inching.

I looked up through the canopy of trees, assessing that we had at least four hours before night fall I decided that I might make for the cliffs I saw earlier when we were riding across an open stretch of hillside.

The cliff face was a tall wall of white sand-stone rock. The surface went up forever, it seemed, reaching an impossible height and budging over my head slightly, as if I had been formed lopsided. The side was pock-marked with deep black holes and caves. Peering around the area quickly I led the prince inside one of the holes, sucking back the fear of small spaces but my fear was not long lasted for the cave opened into a massive expanse of flat rock.

I lead the animal and rider to the back of the cave, trying to make sure not to lead them to a space that was low in the roof. The cave narrowed at the back and I nimbly lead them to a hollow in the wall.

'Get off my horse,' I told the prince before leading him inside the hollow and tying him to the back wall. I then took that saddle and bags from Akiko's back and placed them into a similar hollow out of eyesight of the prince. I fed and watered the horse and led him into the same hollow as the bags before moving back to the path between the two hollows and laying down to sleep.

The cave was large and dark, and I was sure, safe, however sleep still evaded me. From my position I could see the Prince leaning back against the wall, his head lolled to one side and snoring his way through dreams. I shifted and rolled over only to catch a waif scent of horse manure.

_Great_, I though with heavy annoyance, _the prisoner can sleep peacefully and I have to lay wake listening to his bloody breathing while having to smell horse crap. Just not fair._

So I laid awake on the smooth flat rock, staring darkly at the stone roof above me like it would dare to break away from the ceiling and fall on top of me. Like if I stared hard enough I could forget above everything and nothing. The cave roof was black and damp, but after counting the protruding fingers of rock from both the above and around me numerous times I fell asleep. Counting stars might send some people to sleep but not people shrouded in their own darkness who lay constantly awake before they finally fall into nothingness reckoning the blood on their hands.

* * *

I was still night time when I woke. Darkness enfolded the cave, flooding through the holes in the far wall. The wind whistled gently through the gaps, rolling carelessly into the open space and making the space seem so much bigger and dark.

I sat up moaning under my breath pulled my cloak from around my body. Taking my boots from the small hollow that was holding the bags, I choked them on; glad that they were not still swamped in mud and got to my feet.

I peered slowly around the corner, my night vision working, and inspected the figure of the sleeping Prince, breathing so loudly it could wake the dead. I shook my head, turning away and hulling a second cloak around my neck before skidding down the smooth rock to the shallow part of the cave.

Tiny rivets of water ran through the rock, I noticed with surprise. Probably to tired to notice them last time, I though gingerly with great annoyance. Making a split decision I made my way down the rock, following the rivets of water. The stone at the bottom was light and soft, my feet making no noise on it at all, but the water still flowed carelessly down the stone surface.

Glancing behind, I saw that I'd gone completely under the cave chamber I'd been in before, for there was a tunnel ceiling pressing out above me. I looked a head again, squinting as I saw a small beam of harsh white light. I followed the brightness, the stone slanting upwards, and till the tunnel opened out to a small outcrop. But it wasn't an outcrop, I realised, for the empty space beyond me was the rough shape of a circle and as I looked up and down I saw the cliff side, at dizzying height. I was standing in one of the pock-holes.

The water still ran to the end of the hole, then tittered, unbalanced on the edge before spinning to the ground. I looked down, wondering if there was a pool at the bottom of the cliff but it was too far to see.

I sat down on the edge of the hole and listened as the wind circled the hollows and tunnels, sounding like the wails of the dead.

The ground below stretched out and I was amazed at how different the land was to Nihon-Ja. The Araluen land was hilly and wet. Rain lashed out in torrents through the oak trees that stood all over the area. Nihon-Ja was different. The land was not hills but mountains. High, nature-made, massifs, made from tonne stone and snow that fell in flurries then storms. And the villages and ports thousands miles apart from each other, with the smaller towns settled neatly in the under-braces of the mountains. And here they had stone homes, where in Nihon-Ja we only had stone palaces and castles, the rest of the houses laid out in flimsy wax- like cites of unburnt candles- and wood.

With sudden shook I found myself thinking about home. Not the halls were I'd spend my training. Nor the hut that I kept my things hidden in, shrouded in the deepest parts of the woods. But of home, where I'd lived an till the age six, when my village had been burnt to the ground. The woman killed, the men taken for slaves, my mother stabbed and my father incinerated.

My mother had always been around the house, her brown hair tied in a not at the back of her tanned face. She had not been Nihon-Jan, she had told me. She had been Gallican because I remembered her and my father specking the langue sometimes, without understanding for my childish mouth could not form or comprehend the difficult words without my mother's help. I remembered her singing Gallican songs in the evening, her voice high and strong. She had always been different in the village, but nobody treated her differently for she had been one of us- _them_, I reminded myself. They were all dead so there was no _us_ anymore.

And I remembered my father, a solid short man who had built our house. Who had taught me to swim and fish and hunt- however illegal hunting was.

I found myself whispering the words, the only words I could remember of one of my mother's songs: 'Hélas! Ainsi j'ai le modèle de ma mort/ Mais la douleur que je dois endurer sera doux/si j'ai une telle attente/ avant que je meurs, je te revois, avec votre permission.' I knew what it meant now, although when my mother had sung the whole song I could not have deciphered any of the words.

_ 'Kasta, my child, go to sleep.' My mother's voice was soft and sweet as she sat on the bed beside me. Her brown hair had fallen from its normal knot and was hanging loosely around her small shoulders. I reached up to feel the silken feeling of her curls and she smiled and lent down to kiss my head. _

_'Mama, I don't want to sleep,' I told her in all seriousness, my wide black eyes pleading her and she laughed, tilting her head back. _

_'Okay, little Catfish what do you want to do?' I shuffled forward on the bed so that I was sitting up and inclined my head forward. _

_'Mama, will you sing for me?' I asked quietly. 'That song you were singing this morning.'_

_She nodded. 'Lay back and close your eyes, little catfish.'_

_And she sang. _

_Alas! Thus I have the model of my death._

_But the pain which I must endure will be sweet._

_If I have such an expectation_

_That before I die I see you again, by your leave._

**Right so i think Gallican was basally french and that song above is a french song from some time in history but i can't remember who did it but yer... it's not mine!**

**anyway please review, there's going to be more action in the next chapter! **


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